


I Believe

by dontknowcats



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, F/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:23:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3825556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontknowcats/pseuds/dontknowcats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atheva finds herself unable to save her Commander on the battlefield.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Believe

He hit the ground with a thud, the worst noise she had ever heard in her life.

Time had slowed down around them, and she could feel the air against her face, the sweat dripping down the back of her neck. She could hear his final breath even through her screaming.

“No! No!” Her pain coursed through her body, turning to anger as she shot arrow after arrow into the Templar in front of her. It didn’t even matter to her when he fell back, his chest riddled with arrows. She continued to let them fly, stepping closer to his body with each shot.

Eventually her quiver was empty and every enemy around her party was dead. Another scream left her lips as she began to slam her bow against the skull of the man who killed her commander. No one tried to stop her as tears fell onto his face and her bow began to turn red with blood.

“You. Killed. Him!” She screeched with each slam against his head until she heard a crack. That brought her back to the reality around her, the fact that others were with her.

Her bow fell from her hands and she turned on her heels, only a few feet from the Commander. She dropped to his side, trying to convince herself she could still save him despite the gash in his neck. Her fingers pushed through his sweat-drenched hair, pushing any loose strands from his face.

Cullen’s hazel eyes were wide open in shock, staring up past her and into the sky. How she yearned for him to look at her again as if he were seeing the sun for the first time. She gently pushed his eyelids down before bringing her hand down to rest on his cooling cheek.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, secretly relieved to hear footsteps approaching. “I believe you. I-I’m so sorry.” Her voice cracked before she let out one last cry of pain. She had tried so hard to keep him covered during the battle, and she had failed. Her beloved was gone in a single second.

“Inqu—Atheva,” came Dorian’s gentle voice and a hand placed upon her shoulder. “Atheva, we should… go. Let the soldiers take care of him.”

She glanced back to him, cheeks wet with tears, before looking back down at Cullen’s body. Her mouth opened for a moment, as if she were going to say something, but it closed quickly. She pushed herself up onto her feet and took a deep breath before turning from him and walking away.

Her bow was left lying on the ground for a few hours until finally picked up by a straggling soldier. She brought it with her to the camp and began to show it off until she was spotted by Cassandra, who quickly snatched it away to clean up and return to its rightful owner.

The journey back to Skyhold was silent. Atheva didn’t eat, didn’t sleep. She couldn’t cry as much as she wanted to, her tears turning into silent cries into the night.

The moment they returned, she made her way straight to her quarters. If she hadn’t been worried about Cassandra kicking down the door she would have locked it.

Her bed was warm and his pillow still smelled like him. Curling up beneath the covers, she pulled it away from its spot and wrapped her arms around it. It was comforting enough that when she closed her eyes, it felt as if he was there with her. Something she had needed to feel for the past few days.

A hand pressed lightly against her shoulder, shaking her as if she had fallen asleep.

She opened her eyes in surprise, only to find that she had in fact fallen asleep. It was dark outside and there were candles lit on her desk and her bedside table. Confused, she turned over to see who had woken her up.

“No.”

It wasn’t possible. She had leaned over his body, had watched him die. But there he was, leaning over her with a healing cut across his neck.

“Cullen?” She whispered, reaching a hand up to touch his face. He was warm, he was real. He was there.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he replied softly. He was out of his armor, wearing his undershirt and pants. “I passed out due to the pain and… Dorian said you thought I was dead.”

“Of course I did you idiot!” She said, her hand moving to his arm to pull him down next to her. She was crying again, but this time they were tears of joy. “How long have I been asleep?”

“A few days,” he murmured as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “I wanted to wait until you woke up, but watching you sleep… You were having nightmares. I couldn’t help myself.”

“Normally I would be upset but… I can’t. I just can’t right now.” Her face pressed into his neck and she relaxed in his hold. It felt like heaven to return to normal, to return to the warmth and feel of his body against hers. His fingers gripped lightly at her side.

“Did you never really believe that I loved you?” He eventually asked, and she could hear the hurt in his voice. He had heard what she thought to be her final words to him.

“It was… just hard to. You must know how amazingly desirable you are. It was crazy to think you wanted me. That you actually did love me.” Her lips brushed lightly against his neck. “But when you nearly died… I realized the truth. How stupid I was. I love you, Cullen.”

She could hear voices outside her room.

“I love you too.”

Cullen’s grip tightened when the door opened. Two sets of footsteps rushed up the stairs.

“There!” Cole shouted. Atheva couldn’t be bothered to look up. She was suddenly so tired, so eager to sleep again while in her beloved’s arms.

“Atheva, get away from that thing!” Cassandra sounded angry, even more than normal when she called Cullen a thing.

“He’s not a thing,” she replied, opening her eyes to look past the woman she was cuddled up to. The grip on her side began to hurt.

“It isn’t him; Cullen is dead.” Cole explained—still having trouble with how dull his responses could be—as he made his way over to the bed. He was slow, trying to keep the situation under control.

Suddenly the simple grip turned into searing blades into her side. The desire demon beside her grinned as she ripped into her, taking a literal stab at the Inquisitor.

And then the pain receded slightly and stopped at her hip. Atheva hissed in air as she watched Cole stick a single knife into the demon’s head, killing her on the spot.

She pushed herself away from the purple-skinned woman, watching in horror as her long claw-like nails fell from the hole in her side, covered in her blood. Gentle hands wrapped beneath the inquisitor, lifting her up into strong arms.

“Cole, go to the infirmary and tell them what has happened! We’ll be right behind you,” Cassandra instructed. A few moments passed and she whispered, “I’m so sorry. For everything.” Her final words were pointed to Atheva, who began to cry once more.

He was truly gone.


End file.
